Geely outs LFP battery with 50 years of service life to boost used EV residual value

The iron phosphate battery technology of the type Tesla puts in its base Model 3, or which are used in popular power stations like the Anker SOLIX F1200, is proving a viable way to address a lot of complaints about electric cars apart from their price tag.

A case in point is the new LFP battery cell by Geely that not only comes with 192 Wh/kg energy density, but also offers 50 years of service life, can be charged to 80% in under 20 minutes, and loses very little capacity in cold weather.

The Aegis Short Blade Battery stays good for 3,500 charge cycles, or about a million kilometers, by overcoming the typical high internal resistance of long blade batteries of the type that BYD supplies to Tesla.

Geely claims that its LFP battery will be a boon for the used electric car market, as EVs could last for more than 600,000 miles with minimal capacity loss. This is about 50 years of service life based on the average distance that people drive per year.

In addition, the new carbon nanotubes and improved cover film that Geely uses to speed up the travel of lithium ions, have also resulted in a very fast charging time of 17 minutes for bringing the battery from 10% to 80% charge. 

Another cumulative effect of the faster ion transfer is that the Aegis Short Blade Battery loses only 10% instead of 20% range in extremely cold weather, similar to CATL's fast charging LFP cell developed last year.

As the world's largest battery maker, CATL is also aiming to supply EV batteries that can last a million miles and even entered a partnership with NIO over 15-year EV warranties.

Geely's new LFP cells, however, will first go into its own Galaxy E5 SUVs and then trickle down to other potential customers.

To ensure the longevity of the new short blade LFP battery, Geely put it to extreme testing scenarios. It got subjected to open flames, pierced with nails, rolled over, submerged in corrosive seawater, and driven in freezing weather.

The thermally resistant separator and self-healing electrode technology of Geely passed all the torture tests with flying colors, paving the way for said EVs with 50 years of battery service life.